These guides explain the current Powerball and Mega Millions games and the limits of a frequency chart. The facts about prices, matrices, prize tiers, and taxes are paraphrased from the official pages linked in each article. LotteryMigo is not those lotteries, and a guide is not a suggestion to buy a ticket.
The number statistics are a separate set of pages, generated from the same draw file as the home page chart. Start with Powerball numbers or Mega Millions numbers, or with the latest Powerball results and latest Mega Millions results. The hot-and-cold guide includes a count through November 11, 2026.
How Powerball works
The matrix, the nine prize tiers, Power Play, Double Play, and which drawings this site treats as the current game.
How Mega Millions works
The $5 ticket, the 1–24 Mega Ball, the multiplier table, and why older drawings are counted separately.
Powerball vs Mega Millions
Price, matrix, jackpot odds, draw nights, add-ons, starting jackpots, and cash versus annuity, set next to each other from the official game pages.
A history of Powerball and Mega Millions
How Lotto America became Powerball in 1992, how The Big Game became Mega Millions, and the price, matrix, add-on, and draw-night changes since.
Understanding the odds
A combination count for both games, the difference between any-prize odds and jackpot odds, and the limits of a jackpot expected-value shortcut.
Lottery odds compared with everyday events
Jackpot and lower-tier odds for both games, set beside National Weather Service lightning figures and National Safety Council lifetime odds, with the time frame of each one.
What hot, cold, and overdue numbers really mean
How this site defines frequency and gaps, why all-time charts mix retired matrices, and a count taken from the current archive.
Lump sum, annuity, and taxes
What the advertised annuity and cash figures mean, and what the IRS says about reporting and withholding lottery winnings.
The biggest lottery jackpots in history
The largest Powerball and Mega Millions annuities, the cash option beside each one, where the tickets were sold, and why a jackpot grows when nobody wins.
How lottery jackpots grow and are funded
The share of each ticket that reaches the jackpot, how a missed drawing rolls that money forward, and why interest rates change the 30-payment annuity.
Lottery scams to avoid
How a real claim works, the fee-and-bank-details pattern the FTC describes, and what this site will never ask you to send.
What to do if you win the lottery
Secure the ticket, claim Powerball or Mega Millions where it was sold, choose cash or annuity on that state’s clock, and read the anonymity rule before you sign.
Shorter answers are on the FAQ. The counting method is on the about page.